Beauty and the Beast

This is a magical animated interpretation of the Jeanne-Marie de Beaumont fairy tale. A handsome, but vain and selfish, Prince finds himself on the wrong end of a curse - and is condemned to live a life of solitude, hideously disfigured - until someone falls in love with him and breaks the spell. Meantime, "Belle" is living in the village trying to avoid the endless amorous attentions of local beefcake "Gaston". Her father is travelling through the forest when he becomes caught up in a storm and seeks shelter in the Prince's castle - but he picks a rose and is duly imprisoned. When "Belle" discovers he is missing and follows his horse back to the castle, she manages to get the Prince to agree to swap; they gradually get to know each other and... He has an array of servants who all shared his curse and were transmogrified along with their boss - "Lumière" the butler/candlestick rules the roost with "Cogworth", "Madame de Garderobe" and the wonderful "Mrs. Potts" (Angela Lansbury) as the teapot/housekeeper with her little "Chip". All of these characterisations fit the mood perfectly and as the story develops each one becomes more engaging and sympathetic to their poor inflicted master's predicament, as we build to the really quite tense, but satisfying denouement. The songs - and the singing - are superb; the artwork and colours bring it all to life and the script is fast and funny. It's a thoroughly enjoyable demonstration that looks aren't everything...